Google Ads · Final URL suffix

ActiveCampaign Site Tracking + Google Ads UTMs

ActiveCampaign Site Tracking records page views on contacts and powers Attribution touchpoints when a tracked URL includes the five common UTM parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content).

Official overview: An overview of Site Tracking. Setup steps: How to set up Site Tracking. UTM touchpoints: Attribution traffic sources.

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Final URL suffix 
utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignid}&utm_term={keyword}&utm_content={creative}

What Site Tracking actually needs

  1. Feature on — Website → Site Tracking → Enable.
  2. Domain whitelist — add your site (no http://; www optional). Default “include all website pages,” or whitelist specific paths/subdomains.
  3. One tracking snippet — paste ActiveCampaign’s code in the footer of every page you care about. The same code works on multiple sites.
  4. UTMs on the click URL — Attribution parses the five standard keys automatically; no extra “AC-only” query params required for touchpoints.

Critical ActiveCampaign rules

  • Do not load the snippet through Google Tag Manager — ActiveCampaign states third-party tag managers can break Site Tracking. Place the code directly on the site (theme footer, CMS script area, or server-rendered layout).
  • Form thank-you pages — contacts must land on a whitelisted page that has the snippet. ActiveCampaign’s default hosted “Thank you” page does not set the tracking cookie. Redirect the form to your own /thanks (or similar) with the snippet installed.
  • Email links — the click must hit a whitelisted page with the snippet for the visit to attach.
  • Already-known contacts — you can force identity with vgo('setEmail', 'user@example.com'); in the tracking script after login (membership sites, etc.).

Google Ads Final URL suffix

  1. Open Google Ads → Admin → Account settings → Tracking.
  2. Paste into Final URL suffix (not Tracking template).
  3. Save, then verify a click URL contains your parameters.

Prefer Final URL suffix so a click-fraud redirect can still own Tracking template. This string is only the five keys ActiveCampaign Attribution documents — nothing proprietary required for touchpoints.

utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignid}&utm_term={keyword}&utm_content={creative}

Go-live checks

  • Domain appears under Site Tracking whitelist; Enable is on.
  • View-source on the landing page shows the ActiveCampaign snippet in the HTML (not only inside a GTM container).
  • Test ad click → URL bar shows all five utm_* values.
  • As a known contact (or after form submit → your tracked thank-you), confirm the page visit (and UTM touchpoint) on the contact record.
  • Trigger a “Has visited” / Attribution report automation once to prove the pipeline end-to-end.

Related

FAQ

Can I install ActiveCampaign Site Tracking with Google Tag Manager?

ActiveCampaign advises against it — loading the snippet through third-party platforms like GTM can break tracking. Paste the code directly into your site footer (or CMS equivalent) on every page you whitelist.

Why don’t form submits create Site Tracking visits?

If the form’s thank-you page is ActiveCampaign’s default hosted confirmation, no tracking cookie is set. Redirect to a page on your whitelisted domain that includes the Site Tracking snippet.

Do I need special ActiveCampaign query parameters beyond UTMs?

For Attribution touchpoints, no. ActiveCampaign automatically parses the five common UTM parameters on tracked URLs. Focus on Site Tracking install quality and consistent utm_* values from ads and email.

Should this go in Tracking template or Final URL suffix?

Prefer Final URL suffix for query-only UTMs. Reserve Tracking template for redirect click trackers when you use one.